Editorial: Vote to bring movie to UC Davis

Picture this: On a warm spring evening in April, you ride your bike up to Sciences Lecture Hall. But instead of packs of bleary-eyed, backpack-wearing chemistry majors, there’s a red carpet. And photographers. And all the local news media.

Picture this: On a warm spring evening in April, you ride your bike up to Sciences Lecture Hall. But instead of packs of bleary-eyed, backpack-wearing chemistry majors, there’s a red carpet. And photographers. And all the local news media.

Oh, yeah, and James Franco and Natalie Portman.

This doesn’t have to be a fantasy. In fact, it could very well come true if every Aggie votes for UC Davis to win the world premiere of Your Highness, a fantasy comedy starring Franco, Portman, Zooey Deschanel and Danny McBride. The school with the most votes will host the premiere and an after-party. Second- through sixth-place winners will win a free advanced screening of the movie.

Currently, University of Illinois and UC Santa Barbara are tied for first place with 11,415 votes each. UC Davis is in ninth place with 4,898 votes. This is a remarkable achievement considering the fact that Wednesday had us at 21st place, but we need to maintain our momentum. UC Davis needs to win this contest.

The ferocity of the Aggie Pack is proof that UC Davis students have school spirit, but beating hundreds of other colleges to win this movie premiere would provide a valuable boost to our pride. We already endure enough teasing for living in a “cow town” – several UCSB students have mocked our effort on their Facebook group promoting the event – so winning would prove to all naysayers how much we actually do love our school.

The premiere would also give UC Davis some much-needed good press. Last year’s tuition increases and recent outrage over employee pensions, looming budget cuts, lack of transparency in the UC system and other issues have not been kind to our public image. We need to remind the community, current students, alumni, faculty and even prospective students that despite the many problems we face, UC Davis is still a relevant and exciting educational institution, with a lot to offer its student body.

Finally, you just can’t argue with the star power of this film. Portman just won Best Actress at last week’s Academy Awards. Franco just hosted the Academy Awards, a performance which, combined with his resume as actor, author, artist and doctoral candidate at Yale University, officially makes him one of the most intriguing people in Hollywood.

Maybe he’d even post a few of his signature enigmatic photos or videos of his time in Davis on Twitter. Now that would send our prestige through the roof.